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Published Articles by Michael Morris

Jed York

If you haven’t heard, Jed York, the owner and president of the San Francisco 49ers still believes that his team is going to take the NFC West.

“We’re going to win the division,” York vowed Monday morning in a text to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

York also indicated that Mike Singletary would remain head coach of the 49ers…at least for another week.

The 0-5 start by Singletary is the worst start for a San Francisco football team since Bill Walsh’s first season as the 49ers head coach in 1979. That ’79 49ers team went 7 straight games without a win.

Singletary is safe for now but it isn’t because he deserves to keep his job. He hasn’t been fired yet because there is nobody on the staff with the capability to turn the team around and there is nobody on the market that would be willing to take such a job.

The remainder of the schedule is soft but even if the team won 8 of the next 11 games they would only be .500.

Either York knows something we don’t or York had such a rough Sunday night that it spilled into Monday morning. Either York is confident, and knows something that nobody else in San Francisco is aware of, or he is simply crazy. And I, like most I would assume, take the latter.

While Singletary’s job may be in place right now, you can only go so long without winning games before you starting making moves and this week the 49ers will need to do something sooner rather than later.

As much as I have tried to defend the guy, Alex Smith’s time in San Francisco is running out. Singletary stated that Smith would be the starting quarterback come Sunday but if it gets ugly early on in the game expect Carr to take his spot.

On Sunday night against the Eagles, Singletary and Smith got into on the sideline; to the point where other players and staff got between the two of them. An altercation like this is something you would expect from a quarterback and disgruntled receiver, not a quarterback and a head coach. After the public displays of affection, Smith undermines Singletary by sending himself in after back-up David Carr was told by the coaches to get on the field. Down by ten, Smith would then drive down the field and bring the 49ers within 3 points, before a last minute interception that would end up being the fifth and latest loss of the 49ers.

Smith, now in his 6th season, is yet to put a complete game together. At times he looks like Steve Young or Joe Montana showing flashes of brilliance when the team needs it, but unfortunately his flashes of brilliance have come at a minimum. Smith has failed to put 60 minutes of productive football together.

If Smith would like to keep his job, the quarterback that came out for that short while post-altercation will need to play that hungry and inspired football that drove him down the field on Sunday night against the Eagles. That same quarterback that drove his team eighty yards for a score in 52 seconds against the Saints a couple weeks ago on Monday night. Not the quarterback that holds onto the ball for far too long while in the pocket and throws forced balls on a continual basis.

If Smith can come out on Sunday and put together a flash of productive football he may make it into week seven. But if Smith is unable to do so, expect Carr to take his spot early and Singletary not to look back.